


Not In Wonderland

by strangerthingswasntthatgood



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Kill Your Darlings, M/M, alternative universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-05
Updated: 2018-09-05
Packaged: 2019-07-07 08:08:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15904305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangerthingswasntthatgood/pseuds/strangerthingswasntthatgood
Summary: Based of the film Kill Your DarlingsHarry Potter, son of the poet James Potter, applies to Hogwarts. He wants to be a poet and that's it. He goes to study, but gets so much more than he anticipated. He meets Draco Malfoy.





	Not In Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure if I'll actually ever finish this. It's worth a shot. 
> 
> Please, be respectful as the film Kill Your Darlings is based on a true story. I've kept some things and will definitely change some things if I ever finish it.

_ The weight of the world _

_ is love. _

_ Under the burden _

_ of solitude, _

_ under the burden _

_ of dissatisfaction _

 

_ the weight, _

_ the weight we carry _

_ is love. _

-Song, Allen Ginsberg

  
  


Harry didn’t have it easy. He knew most people didn’t, but Harry was often busy with taking care of his mother. She had lost it, after her third miscarriage. The woman that had once loved her husband now suspected the worst from him. His father, on the other hand, still loved his mother. Harry knew. Sirius often spoke about it.

  He turned up the radio, as if not to hear about the war or his mother in the other room. Only when his father wasn’t home, did Harry have the courage to sit behind the typewriter. You see, James Potter was a poet. Harry loved the idea, but he didn’t seriously think he’d ever beat his father. When people met Harry, they saw James Potter. They saw a young and attractive man who had dropped out of school to get married. They saw a poet with years of experience. They didn’t see Harry, nor the old man his father had become.

  The door slammed open and before Harry could move away, his father had stepped inside. He held an envelope in his hands.

  From the dim light inside, Harry watched his father. They had always looked similar, Harry was always told. From the dark hair to the way they both moved. There was only one thing that he hadn’t gotten from his father. His eyes. He had his mother’s eyes. People who knew Lily often told him. Even his father would.

  “This came for you.”

  Harry stood from the chair and pulled the paper from the typewriter. He didn’t want his father to see it. No way.

  “Were you going to tell me you applied?”

  Harry glanced up from the paper. His father didn’t look angry, but he did look disappointed. Harry slowly shook his head, but took the envelope when it was handed to him. They stood there. It must have been forever, when his father finally smiled.

  “Open it, Harry!” James pulled Harry closer, very obviously glancing over Harry’s shoulder to be able to read it at the same time as Harry.

  “Poetry, I hope?” James asked, as Harry slowly opened the envelope. He didn’t pull out the paper, until he had answered his father.

  “You know it.”

  Harry pulled the paper out. He slowly turned the paper to have a look at it. He was sure his heart had never raced as quickly as this and his hands trembled enough to make it difficult to read. Alas, he read quicker than he ever had.

  “I did it…!” Harry’s eyes were glued to the words.

_ We are pleased to inform you that you’ve been given a place at Hogwarts University for Poetry and Writing. _

__ His father hugged his shoulders so tightly Harry couldn’t move. Harry’s face lit up in a smile. He couldn’t remember the last time he had been this happy.

  Harry turned to have a look at his father. Behind the glasses, Harry could see the tears in his father’s eyes.

  “I’m so proud of you, son.”

 

The campus was nothing like Harry had imagined. He had thought it would be calm, thought people would sit together in small groups and talk. He thought of the school as he thought of his father; a calm, sensible one. His father had once gone to Hogwarts, just like Harry now would. He knew his father hadn’t always been the way he were now, but Harry couldn’t see him as anything else.

  Harry watched as women ran towards their friends and as men playfully fought with their friends. He watched women kiss their boyfriends and chase after their crushes, screaming for their books or backpacks. It was just perfect.

  “You must be new?”

  Harry turned to have a look at the one who had spoken. His hair was firely red and much tamer than Harry’s. He was tall and his suit was just a little bit too short.

  “I am”, Harry nodded. “Harry Potter.”

  He held out his hand to shake the other’s.

  “Percy Weasley. I’ll show you to your room.”

 

They walked in silence. They passed bedroom after bedroom and only when they reached the last door of the corridor, did Weasley stop.

  “Potter, right? You’ll share a room with my younger brother, Ronald.”

  Harry stepped inside the room. He was alone again in a matter of moments. He glanced around the room. He was curious, but he didn’t want to overstep any boundaries. He threw his things on the empty bed and had another look around. The room had originally had four beds, Harry assumed. A fifth bed had been squeezed in by a wardrobe and it looked pretty cramped. Each and every one of the bed had their own nightstand and a there were two desks in the bedroom. Above one of the desks, there was a map. Harry took a step closer and carefully traced it with his finger.

  “You don’t want to go there.” The voice made Harry jump in surprise. He turned around to have a look at the man.

  “I’m Dean Thomas. You must be Harry Potter.”

  Harry nodded. He took Dean’s hand and shook it. He glanced over at the map again, almost as if to ask the other why he didn’t want to go downtown.

  “The Fairy Land. Queers.”

 

Dean Thomas had pulled Harry with him to the entrance. A bunch of new students stood together in small groups, obviously waiting for something. Just when Harry was going to ask what it was, Percy Weasley came running.

  “Tour of the school?” he asked and Dean replied. Harr only waved a little when Percy passed him. Percy didn’t even seem to remember him, but Harry figured it wasn’t much of a problem. Harry wasn’t there to make friends, after all.

  The Great Hall was the first thing they saw. Students sat together in groups and ate what must be a late breakfast. It looked cozy and Harry locked eyes with a man for just a second. His eyes were gray and he was as pale as snow. Just when Harry was about to turn away, the man stood and pulled a book with him as he left the table.

  Harry didn’t think too much about it, until the same man was seen in the library. Just when Harry and Dean entered, the pale man jumped up on the table. He held a hand in his book and Harry recognized it as the same book he had had in the Great Hall.

  “A bit of reading?” the pale guy asked and without opening the book, the man very obviously read a quote from it.

  “On a Sunday afternoon”, the room is completely quiet now and Percy looks more confused than anything. “when the shutters are down and the proletariat possesses the street there are certain thoroughfares which remind one of nothing less…”

  Harry watched the pale man now. He fell to his knees, just when he did a dramatic pause. He still held the book.

  “... than a big… cancerous… cock.”

  The pale guy thrusted a lamp between his thighs and Harry bit back a laughter. Weasley, on the other hand, did not look happy, neither did the librarian who came around the corner.

  “What’s this?” she asked and the pale guy stood again. He held the book in front of her.

  “Henry Miller.” 

  The librarian seemed to lose it at the thought and Harry glanced back at the pale man. His blonde hair was a little messed up now and he had a grin that reached from ear to ear.

  “Security!”

  At that, the grin vanished and the pale guy jumped from the table. He dropped the book, which landed on the table with a small thud. Harry couldn’t keep his eyes from the other. He was much taller than Harry had thought and this close, Harry could see the dark circles under his eyes and  _ feel  _ the heat from his body.

  “Alert the press”, the grin was back. “Tell them Draco Malfoy is innocent.”

  Harry, who would have replied if he could, had to watch the man run away. He pushed past Harry and Dean, as if it was the only way out.

  “Pretty darn crazy, if you ask me.” Harry laughed and turned to Dean, who smiled down at him. Weasley stood by the table and had carefully fixed the lamp and made sure the book wasn’t harmed.

  “Let’s continue. This doesn’t usually happen.”

 

That night, Harry and Dean, together with the other three in their room, sat in their beds and talked. The other three was Neville Longbottom, Ronald Weasley and Seamus Finnigan. Neville was a reserved boy, who hadn’t gone to the school because he wanted to. His grandmother had sent him and the education was far too expensive for Neville to say no. Ronald, or Ron as he preferred, wasn’t there because he wanted to, either. He only went to compare to his brothers. Seamus and Dean had gone together and Harry was sure the two of them had a thing going behind everyone’s back, but he didn’t dare to say. Not since the Queer comment the same morning.

  “And then we have Harry Potter”, Dean collapsed back on the bed, as if the thought made him exhausted. “Son of a poet.”


End file.
